COLLEGE PARK -- Joe Smith, player of the year in college basketball?
It is a question that sounds slightly preposterous at first. How could a player just some 21 months removed from his high school graduation, a still-blooming 19-year-old averaging only 11 shots a game, be the best college player in the country?
Easily.
No, the question isn't at all preposterous, friends, not in the least. In fact, with the regular season nearing a conclusion, the issue is no longer whether Smith has a chance to win one of the half-dozen or so player of the year awards handed out every year, but whether any other players have a chance of beating him.
In other words, he is one of the favorites. A smart handicapper laying odds on the race right now would make him no worse than the second choice and quite possibly the first.
The race is entirely subjective, of course, and its outcome doesn't help win or lose games. But if Smith were to win, it would stand as a particularly rare and notable accomplishment.
He would be only the fifth sophomore winner. The others were Lew Alcindor, Bill Walton, Ralph Sampson and Oscar Robertson. Hello.
He also would be the first Terp swinner. Len Bias and Tom McMillen and Len Elmore couldn't do it. Buck Williams and John Lucas and Walt Williams couldn't do it. But Joe Smith just might.
His primary competition, it would seem, are Michigan State's Shawn Respert, UCLA's Ed O'Bannon and either Jerry Stackhouse or Rasheed Wallace of North Carolina. And Smith's candidacy just might be the strongest among those finalists.
Respert has pulled Michigan State into the Top 10 all by himself with a magical performance, but he does little more than score. O'Bannon is a spidery forward whose all-around numbers approach Smith's, but he doesn't dominate games in the fashion that Smith does. Stackhouse and Wallace are both undeniably brilliant, but they'll suffer from the old Academy Award dilemma that faces two actors nominated from the same movie.
That leaves Smith, whose combination of scoring, rebounding and defense is, frankly, unmatched.
"Yes, absolutely, he could be the national player of the year," North Carolina State coach Les Robinson said last night after Smith had delivered 20 points and 15 rebounds in the Terps' 84-71 victory at Cole Field House. "He does so many things to beat you, and does them over and over and over."
It was a fitting night to speculate about such luminous possibilities. Smith had 11 points, 10 rebounds and 4 blocks at halftime, giving him a first-half double double for the second straight game. He completely controlled the game, and did so despite taking only a dozen shots.
Someone asked North Carolina State center Todd Fuller: "Would you be surprised if you picked up the paper after the season and Smith was the player of the year?"
Fuller, who has also played against O'Bannon and Wallace this year, shook his head: No, he wouldn't be surprised.
"Smith and Wallace stand out to me," Fuller said, "with their quickness, the way they use their bodies inside and the way they play within their offenses. They don't ever force anything. Both are excellent. It's kind of hard to believe they're sophomores."
That Smith is indeed so young could work against him in a subjective balloting. Upperclassmen often are viewed more favorably, for some reason. A senior such as O'Bannon, who has come back from a terrible knee injury, will have a strong emotional appeal.
"There are 10 guys who could win it, and Joe is one of them, for sure," Maryland coach Gary Williams said last night. "The beautiful thing about Joe is that he's a lot more worried about what happens to the team than about which awards he might win."
There are a handful for which he will contend. Athletic organizations in New York, Atlanta and Los Angeles pick a national player of the year, as do the Associated Press and the Sporting News. There is the John Wooden Award, the James
Naismith Award, several others.
Last year, one player swept them all. Purdue's Glenn Robinson clearly was the nation's best player.
Things aren't nearly so clear in 1995. And in such a year, a sophomore as heavily publicized as Smith stands a real chance of winning.
For the record, Respert is averaging 25.3 points, 4.2 rebounds and 2.9 assists; O'Bannon is averaging 19.1 points, 8.1 rebounds and 2.8 assists; and Smith is averaging 19.5 points, 10.1 rebounds and 3 blocks.
Advantage? Smith.
First-team All-American is already a lock. Now the people at Maryland are beating the drum for the big prize. The press notes for last night's game made no less than a dozen references to "sophomore sensation Joe Smith."
A true Terps fan will hope that someone else wins, of course, because Smith's value is only going to increase if he does. He is that much more likely to turn pro if he is the college player of the year.
It could happen. Easily.